While ignoring others. When its always about how "the cristal poppin emcees are messing US up" it becomes about scapegoating. When's the last time people critiqued themselves, what they do, & considered whether they're playing as much of a role as the next (if not more) in our demise. Its so easy to point the finger.

>>Why is it okay for Lauryn Hill to spend a grip
>>on a "conscious" video - money that could be >better >spent (imo), while its wrong to make a >video with a bunch of flossin"?

>nobody said it was. but then again if somebody >spends a million bucks on something that >will >educate as opposed to spending it on rented >cars/houses and clothes is that not
>even a little better?

not necessarily - that's my point. Waste is waste. I would argue that the negatives outweigh whatever so-called benefits the "community" gets from Lauryn Hill.

>Not to defend, but if he earned those boots >doing something legal and didn't have to >prostitute himself/others to get it ain't it >better than to reap the windfall of selling
>keys and such? i don't begrudge anyone the >spoils of their work as long as it isn't
>"blood money".


1)just because something is legal doesn't make it right.

2) its all "blood money". MCA is a subsidiary for UMG which is a subsidiary of Universal. UMG includes JayZ, DMX & Juvenile on its roster. Is Thought gonna quit working for Universal because they finance/promote those artists? Is it possible that The Roots benefit in any way from the dough generated by those acts? Universal studios is also responsible for Jerry Springer. Not to mention laborer abuses & the waste/over indulgence associated with theme parks. Where do we draw the line at complicity? Ie, why is it okay to work as the accountant for the corporation that traffics drugs but not as the brotha standing on the crrner selling the shit direct?

>Flossing ain't nbecessarily bad (again) in and >of itself, but what you do to get there and the >climate that you contribute to in your
>display of your floss.

Again I ask, where does complicity begin & end? Everyone has to do what they can & live with themselves. I understand having standards but what I don't like is double standards. Most poeple don't truly live by their own moral standards, yet feel perfectly justified in critiquing another individual's choices.

>we're ALL crabs in one way or another. the question is: how do you justify/counterbalance (there's that word again) your crabbiness?

no, i think the goal is to be as right as YOU possibly can. But for most its easier to point fingers at what the next man is/isn't doing - instead of fixing where they are at fault. That's really my main issue with the things I continously hear at this site. When hard pressed most people are just as guilty of fostering negativity within our community (aroundtheway & globall). I want to make it clear to people that they aren't better because they're not shaking their ass in a club wearing Fubu when they're driving a car/wearing Nikes made practically by slave labor or when they're spending $50 on cds walking right past the homeless shelter with needy kids. Ya dig.